Associated Students of the University of California
The Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC) are the elected representatives of the UC Berkeley student body. As the collective voice of the students, it builds student power through leadership development and opportunities for empowerment. Through grassroots campaigns and coalitions, it fights to hold the University, City, State and Nation accountable to student needs. The ASUC strives to create and sustain a vibrant, inclusive and equitable campus community, shaping our student government to be a model for social change. Founded in 1887, the ASUC is a non-profit organization, autonomous from the University. The ASUC is funded by a $55/year mandatory student fee and revenue from commercial activities, which include the Bear’s Lair businesses, the Cal Lodge in Lake Tahoe, ASUC Lecture Notes and the Cal Student Store. The ASUC owns and manages three buildings on campus: Eshleman Hall, Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union and Anthony Hall. The ASUC is the primary source of funding for hundreds of student organizations at UC Berkeley. The ASUC is a member of the University of California Students Association, a coalition of student governments from across the entire UC system.www.asuc.org Offices The UC Berkeley student body elects 25 ASUC officials every spring, who hold 5 executive positions and 20 senate seats. The officials for the 2011-12 academic year are: President - Vishalli Loomba Executive Vice President - Chris Alabastro External Affairs Vice President - Joey Freeman Academic Affairs Vice President - Julia Joung Student Advocate - Samar Shah Senator - Shahryar Abbasi Senator - Andrew Albright Senator - Tiffany Chia Senator - Brisa Diaz Senator - Sydney Fang Senator - Anthony Galace Senator - Aviv Gilboa Senator - Elliot Goldstein Senator - Ju Hong Senator - Noah Ickowitz Senator - Joey Lam Senator - Connor Landgraf Senator - Safeena Mecklai Senator - Sharanjit Sandhu Senator - Justin Sayarath Senator - Annie Shin Senator - Nairi Shirinian Senator - Dan Ternan Senator - Kevin Williams Senator - Christine Minji Yun Other non-elected components include the Judicial Council and the Graduate Assembly. Student Services The ASUC offers a variety of resources that students may find useful: *Student Advocate - The Student Advocate is an executive, non-partisan office of the student government at UC Berkeley. It offers representation, help, and advice to any student or student group involved in a dispute with the University. It can help with a broad variety of problems, including conduct violations, grade disputes, enrollment issues, financial aid problems, establishment of residency, discrimination, and harassment. All assistance is free and confidential.http://advocate.berkeley.edu/2005/main.php#about *Grants & Scholarships - The ASUC offers two scholarships and several grants, administered by the Academic Affairs office: **The Berkeley Student Foundation Scholarship is for incoming freshman and first year transfer students who are members of minority groups that have been identified by the University as being historically underrepresented in the student body.http://berkeleystudentfoundation.org/ **The Removing Impediments to Students Education Scholarship is for students who have lost their federal financial aid eligibility due to an affirmative answer to the Aid Elimination Provision on the FAFSA. **The Academic Opportunity Fund awards grants for academic travel that enhances student access to valuable educational experiences beyond the classroom. **The Intellectual Community Fund provides monetary support to collaborative events planned by and for Cal students. **The Educational Enhancement Fund provides monetary support to DeCal courses and independent student-initiated courses at UC Berkeley. The ASUC Office of Academic Affairs administers the EEF in conjunction with the Program for Democratic Education (DeCal). **The Multicultural Fund provides monetary support to events introducing the campus to a culture. The program provides opportunities for student groups to hold unique and innovative events to increase campus awareness of multicultural issues. **The Public Service Fund provides monetary support to increase and facilitate public service efforts targeted towards communities outside of the UC Berkeley campus. The objective of the program is to encourage students to partake in philanthropic or humanitarian based projects. **Applications can be submitted to the ASUC Academic Affairs Office in 205 Eshleman Hall. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis each semester until all funds are allocated for the 2008-2009 academic year. Applicants are highly advised to apply a month in advance. The fall application period is from September 8 until November 20, and the spring application period is from January 20 until all funds are depleted. Student Organizations Through ASUC sponsorship, a University-registered student organization can request funding, apply for physical space in Eshleman, request fee waivers for rooms in the MLK Jr. Student Union and receive the advising services of the ASUC Auxiliary staff. To receive funding, a student group must be registered with the university. Following that, a group has two options: *Request sponsorship and/or funding directly from the ASUC Senate through a bill. This option requires an ASUC elected official to sponsor an ASUC Senate bill on your behalf. The elected official will probably author or help you author the bill. A typical bill will include information about the group (name, mission, etc.), a line item budget of anticipated expenses, and the requested amount of funding. This process takes approximately six weeks. It is recommended if a student organization has never received ASUC sponsorship OR if it has received sponsorship before but failed to apply for spring budgeting the previous year, AND it is Fall or early Spring. *Apply for funding in the ASUC's annual spring budgeting process. By completing a Spring Budgeting application, you are requesting that the ASUC Senate include a line item for your student organization in the next academic year's budget. This approach is more likely to result in a greater amount of funding than a bill. This option is recommended if a student organization has ASUC sponsorship and would like to maintain it in the next year OR if it has never received ASUC sponsorship and would like to receive it in the next year, AND it is Spring. Sponsorship and funding is good for one year only, and a student group must re-apply every year.http://www.asuc.org/studentorganizations/fundingandsponsorship.php Student organizations can also request storage space in Eshleman through a separate application process. Applications are made for the next academic year, and are reviewed by the Executive Vice President over the summer. Preliminary decisions are then announced in the fall, with a grace period for appeals. See Also *ASUC Auxiliary Office - advising and financial services for ASUC-sponsored groups *Graduate Assembly *Student Advocate *Student Organizations References External Links *ASUC Homepage Category: Student Government